CASPER — A 28-year-old Casper man who allegedly handcuffed his wife, put zip ties around her neck, beat her and zip-tied her to other objects has been charged with a number of felonies, including kidnapping.
Gavin Eric Niemeyer is accused of aggravated kidnapping, aggravated assault and battery, strangulation of a household member and domestic battery.
An affidavit filed in Niemeyer’s case shows Casper Police responded to a call of a neighbor on Chippewa Trail in the southwest side of the city at 3:30 a.m. Aug. 2 reporting a drug overdose. The neighbor told the dispatcher Niemeyer’s wife came to the neighbor’s home in handcuffs and zip ties on her wrist saying her husband had taken a bunch of sleeping pills.
Police arrived at the Niemeyer residence and found a pair of Smith & Wesson handcuffs attached to the wife’s right wrist and zip ties tightly fastened around her left, with several more attached to the handcuffs by daisy chain technique.
The woman “had swelling to the right side of her face and blood on her lips as if she had been struck in the face and mouth,” the affidavit says.
Husband Unresponsive
Niemeyer was found at the bottom of a basement staircase on his hands and knees and unresponsive. Medical responders began life-saving measures on him, and he was transported to Banner Wyoming Medical Center.
The wife told police that they had been drinking whisky and preparing for a camping trip when they got into an argument related to her desire to care for her mother.
Niemeyer then allegedly poured whiskey on his wife’s face, and she then told him to get out and that she wanted a divorce.
“She advised that Gavin strangled her unconscious two separate times before handcuffing her to a pipe, punching her in the face (and) zip-tying her to a wall stud under the stairs, before he consumed enough sleep aids that (the wife) believed he was dying in front of her,” the affidavit states. “She was able to escape and to knock on neighbors’ doors for help.”
Niemeyer had hidden their cellphones so she could not call for help, the affidavit says.
At one point, the woman said she was dragged into a bathroom where the tub was filling with water and her husband “threatened to drown her.” The couple struggled, causing her to fall and her head hit the floor.
Her husband then helped her up took her into another room. She tried to get away and he wrapped her arm around her throat from behind causing her to lose consciousness, the affidavit states.
She woke up in her bedroom with Niemeyer telling her not to move.
He went upstairs, and she retreated into a laundry room where her husband handcuffed her to an exposed drainage pipe after she fought and bit him.
The wife told police she had been hit by Niemeyer and he put zip ties around her neck as she begged him to stop tightening them. After they were in place for a minute or so she said her husband cut them off.
The woman also told police her husband later moved to another place in the laundry room and attached her zip ties to a wall stud because she “believed that Gavin wanted her to be more comfortable.”
Basement Scene
Police found a large red blanket in a basement equipment room with three zip ties that had been fastened together at the base of a wall. The zip ties appeared stretched and twisted.
They also found zip ties near exposed plumbing pipes with the ends indicating they were cut, the affidavit stated.
On Aug. 4, detectives interviewed Niemeyer at the Casper Police Department, and he told them he didn’t remember a lot except he and his wife had an argument, that he had been hit in the face, and that he hit his wife repeatedly in the ribs.
He also recalled screaming at her in anger.
Niemeyer also told police he remembered putting zip ties around her neck and that his wife fought him. When she stopped fighting, he tightened one or two to the point he thought she could not breathe. When he saw she had closed her eyes and bowed her head he panicked.
He found nail clippers and cut the zip ties from off her neck.
“Gavin recalled zip-tying (her) to objects, but did not recall if (she) was already zip-tied when he put the zip ties around her neck,” the affidavit states. “Gavin related that (she) was restrained in two different places in the basement.”
Niemeyer said he wanted to kill himself that night and had taken a rifle into the weight room with thoughts of calling police and then pointing the weapon at them so police would kill them. He also put a noose over a the top bar of a squat rack and “attempted to hang himself but the rack was not tall enough,” the affidavit says.
Niemeyer could not recall taking the sleeping pills or drinking alcohol.
A detective initially called to the scene found a Savage A17 rifle with a round in the chamber in a southeast main floor bedroom converted to a workout room. A nylon rope was around the with a noose at the end was around the top bar of a squat rack.
Gavin Niemeyer had a previous arrest and conviction for domestic battery and false imprisonment based on actions in October 2022, the affidavit states.
The charge of aggravated kidnapping carries a penalty of not less than 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000 or both. Both the aggravated assault and battery and strangulation of a household member charges call for penalties of up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine or both.
Niemeyer also faces a misdemeanor domestic battery charge that is punishable by up to six months in jail and a $750 fine or both.
Bond was set at $250,000 cash. He remains lodged in the Natrona County Detention Center.
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
